The ‘Littlest You’ Project Living Large!

After years of hard work, hardship, and heartbreak, singer, songwriter, and musical entrepreneur Scott Reid, is shaking up the music scene in Canada and around the world with the launch of Live Large Music‘s global ‘Littlest You‘ project; working to break a new world record!

Who is Scott Reid? What is Live Large Music? Where is this project taking place? As is relatively typical come holiday season tropes, let’s take a little trip down memory lane; back in time, say…eleven years, to 2002, and find out just how significant the answers to each of those questions are.

Photo courtesy of Scott Reid.

A full-time contractor, and a part-time musician, playing bass in a Toronto-based band, Scott was gifted with the birth of his son. Realizing that family must come first, Reid left his band, but was bound determined to ensure music continued to play a significant role in his life, and the life of his little boy. Littering his home with musical instruments, and shifting focus from performance to production, Live Large Music was born: a passionate music production company, giving organic writing, recording, and mixing priority over finely tuned, auto-tuned, and unnatural music: adamant that music should in fact sound real.

Starting out meagerly by writing and capturing his own songs, Reid learned how easily one could collaborate with people online “given the right circumstances, and the right mindset”‘, and has been fostering growth between artists around the world ever since. Put out of work due to a work injury in 2006, Scott found his way into the digital age with Pro Tools and a full digital work station. A songwriter first and foremost, Scott put himself out there to work with others, build relationships, nurture his son, and dig deeper into music, learning his way around the guitar, and keys, for a start.

Original bear art by Jamie Lindsay.

Back to work, fast forward to 2010, when Scott’s life was turned upside down. His daughter Madeline Amy being born prematurely, Scott and his family were graciously harboured by Ronald McDonald House Hamilton a “home away from home for seriously ill children and their families“ while, for a tortuous month, his daughter was treated, and the family struggled, being with her while facing the financial realities of the impartial world around them. Sadly, Madeline passed, and a family torn apart by such tragedy was forced to continue life, having lost much of its meaning in little Madeline.

Having begun writing a lullaby for his darling daughter, the loss pushed Scott away from the very things that would eventually become the foundation upon which LLM was truly built: family and music. Not unfamiliar with loss (losing his sister Amy to illness in their youth) Reid began to slowly find his way back to music, back to growth, and back to building a meaningful life for his family, if not yet for himself. Finishing the lullaby that he had started before his daughter’s birth, and subsequent death, ‘Littlest You‘ came to fruition. Reminding Reid just how important music is to unlocking truths in the world without, and the person within, unbeknownst to Scott, his little Madeline, as well as his dear sister Amy were holding his hands and walking him along a journey that would rid him of an oppressing burden, weighing heavily on his shoulders for years.

Photo courtesy of David del Zotto.

After another work injury that led to the closure of his contracting company, Scott enrolled in a prominent Canadian music industry college, to delve deeper into music, its foundations, and the industry through which it succeeds today. Disillusioned by the elitism of the music industry as a whole, but incredibly accepting and appreciative of the musical connections he made in spite of that, Reid embarked on a journey to seek out like-minded artists and individuals to grow organic relationships; continuing to collaborate online, and find people here and there in the bar music scene where, incidentally, Scott found me. Chatting me up at one of the open mics I used to host at a bar that, not too long after, shut down, Scott relayed to me much of his history, and many of his goals and somehow, amid the roaring late night crowd of the old Black Irish, a friendship was made that led us to Hopefest 2016, a charity event to raise money for Sick Kids Hospital, working hard to bring comfort to families and their ailing children; to bring them hope. Sharing ‘Littlest You‘ and some of his story with the attentive crowd, further connections were made, and the network continued to build, especially since Scott was there with dual purpose: performing as well as mixing an analogue recording of much of the event with gear generously donated by Live Wire Remote Recorders LTD for a Hopefest concert disc. As an added bonus, one Frank Nelson won a donated opportunity to co-write a song with Reid called ‘Hope It To Be‘, to benefit Sick Kids’ newly envisioned music facility Marnie’s Studio.

Photo courtesy of David del Zotto.

With other deeply invested artistic endeavours in the works to be sure, ‘Littlest You‘ has become the flagship for LLM, crossing borders to touch people musically, in their own languages. Working towards setting a new Guiness World Record, ‘Littlest You’ is being translated, and recorded in many, many languages all around the globe with English, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Yoruba already available for download, and Ojibway, Japanese, and Tagalog, ready for release in the new year, with many more to follow. In addition, each new release will go towards the support of a different charity around the world, further connecting communities by way of music, and aid. Supporting Ronald McDonald House Hamilton, as well as organizations in France and Haiti, helping orphans in Africa, children with developmental challenges in Brazil, and helping to ease the passing of terminal children in Italy, ‘Littlest You‘ is, and will continue to serve as a bond between our fragile lives, giving back to those around us, and around the world.

Original bear art by Jamie Lindsay.

Talking of the fragility of life, Reid confided in me, “It’s taken me 31 years to stop feeling like I should’ve got sick instead of my sister… But I get it now. I’m supposed to be here. Living for my army of angels. I’m at peace bro.” After so many years of guilt and grief, Scott is travelling the world with his daughter and sister by his side, through his music; his words, translated for the world over to be likewise touched, and transformed; to have darkness lifted so that this new light of organic, communal, artistry can truly shine.

So, what are the significant answers to those previous questions?

Scott Reid is a dedicated artist, working to share Live Large Music with other artists who have been likewise disillusioned by the industry in which they work; building a community instead of so much as a company; a global community working towards organic musical production, propagation, and promulgation by way of transparent and charitable contribution. Living large through music, Reid just hopes to reach that littlest part of you that yearns for the artistic and emotional freedom we all deserve, young and old; in equal footing in the language we all share…music.

Stay tuned this coming year, as 2017 will see the spread of the ‘Littlest You‘ project to five of our global community’s seven continents, and the continued cultivation of a new Guiness World Record.

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